M54 Madness, the remix

[hoveringuy]

Current status is that the IAC bracket is fabricated.

I'll be pulling the cams and then head in the next several weeks, need to figure-out what I'm doing as far as valve grind, guides and so on. It's a low-mile motor, so nothing probably needs to be done, but a good valve grind can make a big difference.

[wannaBMthree]

Time and money....

Giddy Up. Sub'd for the best engine to swap IMO.

[The Dark Side of Will]

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=305953

:-D

[CorvallisBMW]

I see. Carry on!

[hoveringuy]

It's good for +10HP over a good range. The DISA does help down low, but the M54 intake is also considerably heavier.

[DesertBMW]

Why the m50 manifold? The DISA valve and variable volume are what help give that motor such wide torque cruve, right?

He doesn't care about torq, he wants peak power. M50 manifold flows a bit more. My personal opinion is that benefit will be very minimal, so minimal that is not worth doing.

[CorvallisBMW]

Why the m50 manifold? The DISA valve and variable volume are what help give that motor such wide torque cruve, right?

[stonea]

Subscribed, I'm seriously thing about doing a M52TU swap into my ix. I may have questions for you about the Megasqurit and the wiring.

[kalib0y]

subbed

[mkcman17]

I have a 105k m54 with manual harness, someone come give me $900 for it!

[hoveringuy]

Megasquirt.

The MS43 is a great ECU but it's not as easy to tune and maintain as the Megasquirt. Plus, I can easily add traction control and some other cool functions.

My current status is that I'm fabricating the the ICV bracket. After that, the head will come off.

Time and money....

[Roysneon]

Are you going to run this off of the M54's original DME or a 413? Or Megasquirt?

[klodkrawler05]

subscribed for more updates, the M54 is in the back of my head as a replacement for the S52, I'm content with the power it provides but would enjoy knocking 50-60lbs off the front of the car

[2mAn]

I'll be watching this.

*side note* Thanks for all your help with my car. Im picking it up tonight.

[hoveringuy]

Updates? Thought this build would fly this time

This wont' necessarily go that fast. I have lots of other things competing for my time and money...

Anyway, I did go and pull a complete M50 intake the other weekend. Came with absolutely everything. After pulling some of the extra studs on the head it bolted-on beautifully.

The support strut to the block was a quick and easy mod.

The current task is that I need to locate and mount the ICV. The m50 has it attached to the block at the wiring support bracket. The M54 has it attached to the bottom of the manifold. I would prefer to have it on the bottom of the manifold so that it will lift off as one assembly, so I need to resolve that.

After that, I'll pull the head and match the ports. My latest intel is that the motor had closer to 67k miles, so the head won't need any work, but I'd still like to match the valve guides to the port wall and other minor porting.

I also purchased a spare front subframe.